id aloud, "The
Tin Soldier!" The fish had been caught, carried to market, bought, and
taken into the kitchen, where the cook cut him open with a large knife.
She seized the Soldier round the body with both her hands and carried
him into the room, where all were anxious to see the remarkable man who
had traveled about in the inside of a fish; but the Tin Soldier was not
at all proud. They placed him on the table, and there--no! What curious
things may happen in the world. The Tin Soldier was in the very room in
which he had been before! He saw the same children, and the same toys
stood on the table; and there was the pretty castle with the graceful
little Dancer. She was still balancing herself on one leg, and held the
other extended in the air. She was hardy too. That moved the Tin
Soldier; he was very nearly weeping tin tears, but that would not have
been proper. He looked at her, but they said nothing to each other.

Then one of the little boys took the Tin Soldier and flung him into the
stove. He gave no reason for doing this. It must have been the fault of
the Goblin in the snuff-box.

The Tin Soldier stood there quite illuminated, and felt a heat that was
terrible; but whether this heat proceeded from the real fire or from
love he did not know. The colors had quite gone off from him; but
whether that had happened on the journey, or had been caused by grief,
no one could say. He looked at the little lady, she looked at him, and
he felt that he was melting; but he still stood firm, shouldering his
musket. Then suddenly the door flew open, and the draught of air caught
the Dancer, and she flew like a sylph just into the stove to the Tin
Soldier, and flashed up in a flame, and she was gone. Then the Tin
Soldier melted down into a lump; and when the servant-maid took the
ashes out next day, she found him in the shape of a little tin heart.
But of the Dancer nothing remained but the tinsel rose, and that was
burned as black as a coal.

198

"The Ugly Duckling" has always been regarded as
one of Andersen's most exquisite stories. No
one can fail to notice the parallel that
suggests itself between the successive stages
in the duckling's history and those in
Andersen's own life. In this story, remarks Dr.
Brandes, "there is the quintessence of the
author's entire life (melancholy, humor,
martyrdom, triumph) and of his whole nature:
th